The Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) has announced a new partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that aims to establish a multi-vendor edge computing supply chain. As part of this partnership, AWS has contributed a new edge gateway base specification (PDF opens in new window) to the OCP. This specification is designed for deployments supporting cloud-delivered managed edge services in various market segments, including retail, and will support OCP's Switch Abstraction Layer (SAI) through new AWS contributions.
The enterprise gateway specification created by AWS would enable a broad range of use cases, including Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), in addition to straightforward Wide Area Network (WAN) connection. The gateway can support up to 48 ports, which includes 32x1Gb ports and 16x2.5Gb ports, with 4x25Gb SFP28 Uplink Ports. The gateway has the ability to handle Cellular LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi, and Power over Ethernet (PoE), with the CPU being a pluggable module with increased computational capability to support demanding workloads.
Edgecore, Celestica, Delta Networks, Extreme Networks, Ragile Networks, Delta Electronics, and Wistron are among the Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) network equipment vendors that plan to participate in the development of a new, resilient, open enterprise edge computing supply chain through this gateway specification. The prototypes are expected to be on display during the OCP Global Summit in October 2023, and volume sales are anticipated to start in the first quarter of 2024.
According to George Tchaparian, CEO of the Open Compute Project Foundation, this move aligns with the organization’s strategic directions, including enabling the movement of workloads to the edge, developing hardware-aware software and hardware under OCP's Hardware-Software Co-design Strategy, and collaborating with the Linux Foundation on SONiC and DENT.
Adoption of AI
AWS’ contributions to the OCP’s Switch Abstraction Layer (SAI) will allow end-users to choose their preferred Network Operating System (NOS), including SONiC or DENT from the Linux Foundation. The ONIE loader and SAI are examples of software support provided in this specification. OCP Hardware Baseline Management Profile is used in hardware management, while TPM 2.0 Module, Secure Boot, and MACSec are supported in terms of security.The adoption of AI has driven the OCP to become actively involved in edge computing, as the trend of data center consolidation has slowed down and turned to edge computing for latency, data recency, and data sovereignty. The Open Edge Server and Cell Site Gateways were first developed by the community at the OCP, drawing on improvements from operators of hyperscale data centers. The Enterprise Edge Gateway specification from AWS has now strengthened these advancements.
According to the OCP Foundation, open ecosystems will be crucial in the market for edge computing equipment and services, which is transitioning to mainstream scale installations, as it will help build robust supply chains. The modularity of the enterprise gateway specification created by AWS and the selection of Network OS would enable product variants that are compliant with the specification to be applicable to a wide range of use cases, which is essential as new edge computing use cases keep developing.
This expanded relationship between AWS and OCP has the potential to be a significant enterprise edge computing market accelerator, according to Ashish Nadkarni, Group Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Infrastructure at IDC.
